1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention described herein pertain to the field of computer systems. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more embodiments of the invention enable systems and methods for image data management.
2. Description of the Related Art
Access to high-resolution image data is useful in a wide variety of applications. In almost any field, high-resolution image data is desirable over lower resolution images. Image size and/or image resolution are often reduced to provide quicker access or to facilitate access to mobile devices with limited resources. Often, high-resolution image data can enhance user experience.
In some applications, access to high-resolution image data is necessary. For example, although providing quick access to lower resolution medical imaging data may be useful, full resolution medical imaging data must be consulted before making a final diagnosis. Other important high-resolution image data that may also be important include mapping, schematics, geographical data, advertising, publishing, design, professional photography, and other types of image data.
Often, high-resolution image data involves private, confidential or sensitive information that cannot be made publicly available for download. In these instances, it is standard to store high-resolution image data on a secure, centralized server. Access to the high-resolution image data may be granted to authorized users through standard security protocols.
It is desirable to provide high-resolution image data to computing devices, even when the computing devices have limited computing resources. Limited computing resources may include processing power, graphical processing power, memory, network bandwidth, and any other computing resource. At the same time, there is a demand for access to high-resolution image data at near real-time speed. In one instance, the resolution of the file may be reduced to provide quicker access at the expense of image resolution. In another instance, the high-resolution image data file may be downloaded before a user may view and navigate the image file. However, the delay involved in downloading larger image data files makes this method less useful, especially if collaboration is desired.
In a typical collaboration scenario, one specialist may seek the advice or opinion of another specialist regarding the high-resolution image data. However, existing solutions do not providing the second specialist quick access to the high-resolution image data at near real-time speed.
To overcome the problems and limitations described above, there is a need for systems and methods for image data management.